Data processing device and data control circuit for use therein

ABSTRACT

When data that has been saved outside a circuit is restored, a data control circuit, before resuming the processing that an electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, performs particular processing different from that processing. Moreover, the data control circuit has a data saving control function whereby it, via a debugging port (or a general-purpose data input/output port) of a volatile memory storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit, saves that data (or sends an instruction to save that data).

This application is based on the following Japanese Patent Applications, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference:

(1) Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-104002 (filed on Apr. 11, 2007)

(2) Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-104008 (filed on Apr. 11, 2007)

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to data processing devices (microprocessors, image processors, multimedia processors, IP cores, personal computers, network servers, mobile devices, game machines, PDAs (personal digital/data assistants), and the like) provided with an electronic circuit portion, and to data control circuits for use therein. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique used therein for saving/restoring data.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventionally, temporarily stored data such as register data of an electronic circuit portion of a data processing device is lost at shutdown, and, even after the power comes back on, it is impossible to restore the lost data to the original state. As a result, if an unintended power shutdown such as a power failure occurs, the conventional data processing device suffers damage such as loss of data that is being worked on.

In addition, for a data processing device such as a personal computer that needs software control, it is necessary to reload software when the power is turned on again. This makes it time-consuming to turn the power on/off (to start up the hardware), putting an unnecessary stress on a user. It is for this reason that the conventional data processing device does not allow an easy power shutdown of the electronic circuit portion even when the electronic circuit portion is on standby. This undesirably increases wasteful power consumption.

Examples of a conventional technology related to what has been described thus far are seen in JP-A-S58-169218, JP-A-H4-107725, JP-A-2004-186874, JP-A-H10-78836, and JP-A-H3-163617. Hereinafter, these documents are referred to as Patent Documents 1 to 5 respectively.

Patent Document 1 discloses and proposes a power shutdown/restoration method by which, in a data processing device storing a running state of a program that is being executed at the time of power off, such that continued execution of the program is made possible when power is restored (that is, a device that can retain the program by means of battery or the like even if a power shutdown occurs), the data processing device being provided with off-state detecting means for detecting that the power is turned off; a plurality of stack areas that store program running states at the time of power off; and judging means for judging whether or not a running program stored in the stack areas is a power shutdown program that operates at the time of power off, when the power is in a shutdown state, the program running states are sequentially stored in the plurality of stack areas; when power is restored, the program running states are sequentially read until a program other than the power shutdown program is read.

Patent Document 2 discloses and proposes a data saving/restoring method that saves and restores data as follows. Judgment is made at regular intervals as to whether each area of a buffer memory satisfies a saving condition, and the data stored in the area that satisfies the saving condition is saved to a magnetic disk device. If a trouble occurs in the buffer memory, invalid area determining means differentiates between the area to which valid data is saved and the area to which invalid data is saved, such that the area to which the valid data is saved is restored by using the data saved to the magnetic disk device, and the area to which the invalid data is saved is restored based on the update history information.

Patent Document 3, which the applicant of the present invention once filed, discloses and proposes a data retaining apparatus provided with: a data retaining circuit that retains data, at the time of latching of data, by connecting first and second inverter circuits in a loop; and a nonvolatile storage element that stores, at the time of writing of data, with one end thereof connected to an input node of the first inverter circuit, a nonvolatile state corresponding to data existing in the data retaining circuit, and that releases, at the time of restoration of data, an electrical charge corresponding to the stored nonvolatile state at the input node of the first inverter circuit, the electrical charge causing a voltage that is higher or lower than a threshold voltage of the first inverter circuit to appear at the input node of the first inverter circuit, by connecting the one end thereof to the input node of the first inverter circuit and receiving a read signal at the other end thereof. The data retaining circuit has a loop connecting/disconnecting gate inserted between a nonvolatile storage element connection node at which the input node of the first inverter circuit and the one end of the nonvolatile storage element are connected together and an output node of the second inverter circuit, the loop connecting/disconnecting gate being so controlled, at the time of latching and writing of data, as to be in a connected state, and so controlled, at the time of restoration of data, as to be in a disconnected state during the reception of the read signal and to be shifted in a connected state after a predetermined length of time elapses.

Patent Document 4 discloses and proposes a data processing device for executing an instruction, the processing device provided with: an element including a sequential circuit composed of a plurality of combinatorial logic circuits and a plurality of storage elements to be combined with the plurality of combinatorial logic circuits into a sequential circuit; a memory for saving; a saving/restoring circuit that reads a plurality of internal data stored in the plurality of storage elements and saves the plurality of internal data thus read to the memory for saving, and that reads the plurality of internal data thus saved from the memory for saving and restores the plurality of internal data thus read to the plurality of storage elements; and a power supply switching circuit that switches a source voltage to be fed to the processing device, such that, after the plurality of internal data is saved by the saving/restoring circuit, a source voltage for a standby state is fed to the processing device, and, before the plurality of internal data thus saved is restored by the saving/restoring circuit, a source voltage for normal operation is fed to the processing device.

Patent Document 5 discloses and proposes a warm boot method for a program in a computer system including a central processing unit having at least a main memory, and an external storage device as needed. In this method, a power-failure interrupt indicating a power shutdown occurs shortly before the power to the computer system is shut down. When the power-failure interrupt occurs, the current states of a register and a peripheral integrated circuit of the central processing unit are saved to a specific address of the main memory, a flag indicating a power failure is set, and the processing is on standby until power to the computer system is shut down. Upon shutdown of the power to the computer system, the power to the main memory is switched from a power source to a battery for backup. Upon power-on of the computer system, the power to the main memory is switched from the battery to the power source. At this point, if the flag indicating a power failure is set, the states of the register and the peripheral integrated circuit, the states saved at the occurrence of the power-failure interrupt, are restored to the original states, and the flag indicating a power failure is reset; if the flag indicating a power failure is not set, a control program and a processing program are loaded from the external storage device.

Certainly, with the conventional technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 5, it is possible to save/restore or retain data of an electronic circuit portion.

However, with the conventional technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is a need to provide, in addition to a main power source, a sub power source such as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or a battery backup. This undesirably increases the size and cost of the data processing device.

With the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to perform data backup operation during normal operation. This results in a considerable degradation in performance of the data processing device. In addition, a decreased frequency of data backup disadvantageously increases the amount of data loss.

The conventional technology disclosed in Patent Document 3 simply aims at making it possible for the register used in the data storage circuit provided in the electronic circuit to retain data without power supply, but not at saving/restoring data.

The conventional technology disclosed in Patent Document 4 simply aims at reducing standby leakage current and hence power consumption by switching the source voltage before and after data saving, and does not suggest saving/restoration of data at the time of a power shutdown.

The conventional technology disclosed in Patent Document 5 simply aims at saving/restoring the states of the register and the peripheral integrated circuit of the central processing unit by using a program executed on the central processing unit. This necessitates reloading of a restoration program after each restoration of data, making it time-consuming to turn the power on/off (to start up the hardware). Moreover, giving a data saving/restoring function to an existing system requires making changes in the program because otherwise compatibility of the program cannot maintained. Furthermore, data saving/restoring processing itself is time-consuming if it is handled by software.

Furthermore, in the conventional technology described above, if a drive clock is stopped while data of the electronic circuit is being saved/restored, the electronic circuit cannot decide by itself as to whether saving/restoration of data has been performed, and therefore tries to resume the operation it had been performing before the data was saved as if nothing had happened after the completion of data restoration. For example, if data is saved during a power failure of an application (such as a game machine) that requires constant user operation, the operation that had been performed before the data was saved is suddenly resumed after restoration of data. This makes it impossible for the user to cope with the situation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the conventionally experienced problems described above, it is a first object of the present invention to provide data control circuits that can prevent the user from failing to cope with the situation, at the time of restoration of data that has been saved outside of the circuit, due to a sudden resumption of an operation that had been performed before the data was saved, and to provide data processing devices using such data control circuits.

In view of the conventionally experienced problems described above, it is a second object of the present invention to provide data control circuits that can achieve enhancement of the usability of electronic circuits and a reduction in standby power consumption in a short development period and at lower cost by making effective use of the design assets of the existing electronic circuits (such as ICs, LSIs, and IP cores that have already been introduced commercially) and volatile memories storing data to be processed in such electronic circuits without making major changes therein, and to provide data processing devices using such data control circuits.

To achieve the above-described first object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a data control circuit has a data saving control function connected to an electronic circuit, the data saving control function of saving data of the electronic circuit outside the circuit, and a data restoration control function of restoring the data saved outside the circuit to the electronic circuit. When the data saved outside the circuit is restored, the data control circuit, before resuming processing that the electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, makes the electronic circuit perform particular processing different from that processing.

To achieve the above-described second object, according to another aspect of the present invention, a data control circuit has a data saving control function of saving (or giving an instruction to save), via a debugging port (or a general-purpose data input/output port) of a volatile memory storing data to be processed by an electronic circuit, the data of the volatile memory.

Other features, elements, steps, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram illustrating a data saving period and a data restoring period;

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating data saving operation;

FIG. 4 is a timing chart illustrating data restoring operation;

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a one-wiring-per-register type;

FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a shift register-based type;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of registers and the length of conductor;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the data transfer rates of an electronic circuit portion and a nonvolatile memory;

FIG. 8A is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration (the SoC configuration) of a system on which the data control circuit according to the invention is mounted;

FIG. 8B is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration (the on-board-system configuration) of a system on which the data control circuit according to the invention is mounted;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving the retention of data at power-on/shutdown;

FIG. 10 is a time chart showing an example of data retaining operation;

FIG. 11A is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration (with the LSI operating) for achieving a reduction in power consumption by a power shutdown during standby;

FIG. 11B is a block diagram showing the example of the configuration (with the LSI on standby) for achieving a reduction in power consumption by a power shutdown during standby;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for detecting an operating status of an electronic circuit 110 by using a status monitoring portion 120 b;

FIG. 13A is a diagram (a power consumption behavior of the present invention) illustrating how effective the present invention is in reducing leakage power;

FIG. 13B is a diagram (a conventional power consumption behavior) illustrating how effective the present invention is in reducing leakage power;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating how effective the present invention is in reducing power consumption of the device as a whole;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving processing switching by replacement of register data;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving the concurrent execution of data saving and data restoration;

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the relationship between a memory in use and the amount of transferred data;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving saving/restoration of data of a volatile memory storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit;

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing an example of data saving processing;

FIG. 20A is a flow chart showing an example of data restoring processing;

FIG. 20B is a flow chart showing another example of data restoring processing;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving the concurrent restoration of a plurality of data processing devices; and

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a data control circuit 220A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention.

As shown in this figure, the data processing device of this embodiment includes an electronic circuit portion 1, a data saving/restoration control portion 2, and a nonvolatile memory 3.

The electronic circuit portion 1 is a CMOS logic circuit (such as a CPU (central processing unit)) that performs operations on data by using a plurality of registers 11 to 13. When the electronic circuit portion 1 is in normal operation, 8-bit parallel signals (PI/PO) are inputted thereto and outputted therefrom via the registers 11 to 13. It is to be noted that the number of registers and the number of input/output bits are not limited to those specifically described above.

On the other hand, the electronic circuit portion 1 of this embodiment has, in addition to a first signal path (an input/output path of parallel signals PI/PO) used in normal operation, a second signal path (an input/output path of serial signals SI/SO; a so-called scan path) provided for switching flip-flops FF, which form each of the registers 11 to 13, into the shift register configuration. The scan path itself is a well-known technique that is widely adopted for debugging a CMOS logic circuit provided with a number of registers, and therefore the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the electronic circuit portion 1 of this embodiment, the scan path is also used for saving/restoring the register data, such that the register data is inputted/outputted as serial signals (SI/SO). That is, the electronic circuit portion 1 of this embodiment controls the flip-flops FF so as to switch into the shift register configuration based on a normal enable signal NE (which is enabled in normal operation, and is disabled at the time of data saving/restoration) inputted from the data saving/restoration control portion 2.

Based on a reset signal RST for detecting power-on/shutdown, the data saving/restoration control portion 2 serves as a data saving controller that saves, at shutdown, the register data of the electronic circuit portion 1 to the nonvolatile memory 3 within the period after a fall in the source voltage VDD is detected until the source voltage VDD falls down to the lower limit voltage at which the device is guaranteed to operate (the lower limit of the source voltage VDD at which the device is guaranteed to operate normally; for example, 90% of the normal voltage level), and serves as a data restoration controller that restores, at power-on, the register data saved to the nonvolatile memory 3 to the electronic circuit portion 1 within the period after the source voltage VDD rises up to the lower limit voltage at which the device is guaranteed to operate until the electronic circuit portion 1 begins to operate.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram illustrating a data saving period and a data restoring period.

As shown in this figure, the data saving period and the data restoring period are both extremely short periods (several hundreds microseconds (μs)) immediately after shutdown and power-on, respectively. In the data processing device of this embodiment, saving/restoration of register data is completed in such an extremely short period. With this configuration, it is possible to appropriately save/restore the register data of the electronic circuit portion 1 according to power-on/off without the need for a sub power source or data backup operation during normal operation. This helps realize a system in which the register data of the electronic circuit portion 1 is made virtually nonvolatile.

The data saving/restoration control portion 2 of this embodiment includes an operation mode control portion 21, a sequence control portion 22, a data scanning control portion 23, a serial/parallel converting portion 24, an address generating portion 25, and a read/write control portion 26.

The serial/parallel converting portion 24 described above is composed of a SIPO (serial-in-parallel-out) register 24 a, a PISO (parallel-in-serial-out) register 24 b, and a bi-directional I/O (input/output) buffer (three-state I/O buffer) 24C.

The operation of different parts of the data saving/restoration control portion 2 configured as described above and register data saving/restoring operation using the same will be described later in detail.

The nonvolatile memory 3 is a storage that can retain the storage contents even if power is shut down. In the data processing device of this embodiment, FeRAM (ferroelectric RAM: 256 Kb=32 Kb×8) that stores register data in a nonvolatile manner by exploiting ferroelectric hysteresis is used.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, register data saving operation performed in the data processing device configured as described above will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating register data saving operation.

As shown in FIG. 2 described above, when the reset signal RST has risen to a high level at shutdown upon detection of a fall in the source voltage VDD, the operation mode control portion 21 disables the normal enable signal NE (not shown in FIG. 3) so as to switch the registers 11 to 13 of the electronic circuit portion 1 to the shift register configuration, and gives an instruction to the sequence control portion 22 to save data. Specifically, the operation mode control portion 21 inputs to the sequence control portion 22 an address signal ADDR indicating a write destination address of register data, and enables a write signal WRITE (in this embodiment, turns it to a high level) instructing register data to be written to the nonvolatile memory 3.

In the sequence control portion 22 that has received the data save instruction, a write flag WRITEST indicating that the writing of register data to the nonvolatile memory 3 has been instructed is set. During the interval that the write flag WRITEST is set, the address generating portion 25 is ready to generate a write destination address of register data, and the read/write control portion 26 is ready to perform the writing to the nonvolatile memory 3.

In the sequence control portion 22, a sequence control counter COUNT used for timing control of the reading of data from the electronic circuit portion 1 and the writing of data to the nonvolatile memory 3 counts up in synchronism with a positive edge of a clock signal CLK. That is, the data processing device of this embodiment controls the register data saving operation as a state machine based on the count value of the sequence control counter COUNT.

In addition, the sequence control portion 22 gives an instruction to the data scanning control portion 23 to perform data scanning (reading of register data) on the registers 11 to 13 by using the scan path. Specifically, the sequence control portion 22 enables a data scanning control signal SCAN (in this embodiment, turns it to a high level) enabling/disabling the operation of the data scanning control portion 23. The data scanning control signal SCAN is in an enabled state for the duration of the time the sequence control counter COUNT is counting up from “0” to “7”.

Upon receipt of the instruction to perform data scanning by using the scan path, the data scanning control portion 23 sends a scan enable signal SE eight times, thereby giving an instruction to the SIPO register 24 a to read data of the registers 11 to 13 eight bits at a time. As a result, 8 bits of data (in this embodiment, one register's worth of data) is stored in the SIPO register 24 a (see SIPO input data REGIN shown in the figure).

On the other hand, when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “6”, a load signal FLOAD rises, and preparations for the reading of the register data stored in the SIPO register 24 a begins.

After the completion of the storage of data in the SIPO register 24 a, control is shifted to the writing of register data to the nonvolatile memory 3 based on a chip enable signal FCE, an output enable signal FOE, and a write enable signal FWE.

The chip enable signal FCE is enabled to permit access to the nonvolatile memory 3, and is disabled to prohibit access to the nonvolatile memory 3. The chip enable signal FCE transitions into an enabled state by using its negative edge as a trigger, and transitions into a disabled state by using its positive edge as a trigger. In the case shown in FIG. 3, the chip enable signal FCE rises to a high level when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “9”, and becomes ready for a negative edge (a transition into an enabled state). At the count of “10”, the chip enable signal FCE drops to a low level, and transitions into an enabled state.

The output enable signal FOE is enabled when register data is read from the nonvolatile memory 3, and is disabled when register data is written to the nonvolatile memory 3. In the case shown in FIG. 3, the output enable signal FOE is kept in a disabled state (in this embodiment, at a low level).

Unlike the output enable signal FOE, the write enable signal FWE is disabled when register data is read from the nonvolatile memory 3, and is enabled when register data is written to the nonvolatile memory 3. In the case shown in FIG. 3, the write enable signal FWE is in an enabled state (in this embodiment, takes a high level) for the duration of the time the sequence control counter COUNT is counting up from “8” to “15”.

The memory input/output signal FIO is a 8-bit parallel signal to be exchanged between the bi-directional I/O buffer 24 c and the nonvolatile memory 3. The data stored in the SIPO register 24 a is sent out by using as a trigger a negative edge (a transition into an enabled state) of the chip enable signal FCE. In the data processing device of this embodiment, when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “10”, 8 bits of register data is transferred to the nonvolatile memory 3 in a parallel manner via the bidirectional I/O buffer 24 c.

Then, after being kept at a low level by two counts of the sequence control counter COUNT, the chip enable signal FCE is turned to a high level, and is then defaulted to a low level at the count of “15”. It is to be noted that, as shown in FIG. 3, the logic state of the memory input/output signal FIO after the completion of the writing of register data may be indefinite.

Finally, an access termination signal OPEND rises when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “15”. This indicates the completion of saving of one word of data.

As described above, in the data processing device of this embodiment, based on the count value of the sequence control counter COUNT, the following operation is repeatedly performed. With the first eight counts (“0” to “7”), 8 bits of register data is read from the electronic circuit portion 1; with the next eight counts (“8” to “15”), the read register data is written to the nonvolatile memory 3.

When data scanning of the electronic circuit portion 1 is performed by using the scan path in the manner as described above, unnecessary data is overwritten one after another in the registers 11 to 13. This, however, poses no problem in restoring data because such unnecessary data is erased at shutdown.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, restoration of register data in the data processing device configured as described above will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart illustrating register data restoring operation.

As shown in FIG. 2 described above, when the reset signal RST has dropped to a low level at power-on upon detection of a rise in the source voltage VDD, the operation mode control portion 21 disables the normal enable signal NE (not shown in FIG. 4) so as to switch the registers 11 to 13 of the electronic circuit portion 1 to the shift register configuration, and gives an instruction to the sequence control portion 22 to restore data. Specifically, the operation mode control portion 21 inputs to the sequence control portion 22 an address signal ADDR indicating a read destination address of register data, and enables a read signal READ (in this embodiment, turns it to a high level) instructing register data to be read from the nonvolatile memory 3.

In the sequence control portion 22 that has received the data restoration instruction, a read flag READST indicating that the reading of register data from the nonvolatile memory 3 has been instructed is set. During the interval that the read flag READST is set, the address generating portion 25 is ready to generate a read destination address of register data, and the read/write control portion 26 is ready to perform the reading from the nonvolatile memory 3.

In the sequence control portion 22, a sequence control counter COUNT used for timing control of the reading of data from the nonvolatile memory 3 and the writing of data to the electronic circuit portion 1 counts up in synchronism with a positive edge of a clock signal CLK. That is, the data processing device of this embodiment controls the register data restoring operation as a state machine based on the count value of the sequence control counter COUNT.

When preparations to read register data from the nonvolatile memory 3 are made, control is so performed that register data is read from the nonvolatile memory 3 based on the chip enable signal FCE, the output enable signal FOE, and the write enable signal FWE.

In the case shown in FIG. 4, the chip enable signal FCE rises to a high level when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “1”, and becomes ready for a negative edge (a transition into an enabled state). At the count of “2”, the chip enable signal FCE drops to a low level, and transitions into an enabled state. The output enable signal FOE is in an enabled state (in this embodiment, at a high level) for the duration of the time the sequence control counter COUNT is counting up from “0” to “7”. On the other hand, the write enable signal FWE is kept in a disabled state (in this embodiment, at a low level). As a result, in the data processing device of this embodiment, when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “2”, 8 bits of register data is transferred from the nonvolatile memory 3 in a parallel manner via the bi-directional I/O buffer 24 c.

When the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “6”, the load signal FLOAD rises, and the register data is stored in the PISO register 24 b.

Then, after being kept at a low level by two counts of the sequence control counter COUNT, the chip enable signal FCE is turned to a high level, and is then defaulted to a low level at the count of “7”. It is to be noted that, as shown in FIG. 4, the logic state of the memory input/output signal FIO after the completion of the reading of register data may be indefinite.

After the completion of the storage of data in the PISO register 24 b, the sequence control portion 22 gives an instruction to the data scanning control portion 23 to perform data scanning (writing of the saved register data) on the registers 11 to 13 by using the scan path. Specifically, the sequence control portion 22 enables the data scanning control signal SCAN (in this embodiment, turns it to a high level) enabling/disabling the operation of the data scanning control portion 23. The data scanning control signal SCAN is in an enabled state for the duration of the time the sequence control counter COUNT is counting up from “8” to “15”.

Upon receipt of the instruction to perform data scanning by using the scan path, the data scanning control portion 23 sends the scan enable signal SE eight times, thereby giving an instruction to the PISO register 24 b to output data in a serial manner one bit at a time. As a result, 8 bits of data (in this embodiment, one register's worth of data) is restored to the registers 11 to 13 (see PISO output data REGOUT shown in the figure).

Finally, the access termination signal OPEND rises when the sequence control counter COUNT counts up to “15”. This indicates the completion of restoration of one word of data.

As described above, in the data processing device of this embodiment, the register data restoring operation is performed in reverse order to how the above-described saving operation is performed. That is, based on the count value of the sequence control counter COUNT, the following operation is repeatedly performed. With the first eight counts (“0” to “7”), 8 bits of register data is read from the nonvolatile memory 3; with the next eight counts (“8” to “15”), the read register data is written to the electronic circuit portion 1.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7, an ingenious way of making a large-scale electronic circuit portion nonvolatile will be described in detail.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a one-wiring-per-register type, and FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a shift register-based type. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of registers and the length of conductor. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the data transfer rates of an electronic circuit portion and a nonvolatile memory.

As shown in FIG. 5A, adopting a configuration (a one-wiring-per-register type) in which a conductor for data saving is led out of each of a plurality of registers makes it possible to save register data at high speed. However, if this configuration is adopted, it is necessary to provide as many conductors and output ports as the registers. As a result, as indicated by character (a) shown in FIG. 6, the length of conductor for data saving increases with an increase in the size of an electronic circuit portion. This makes it difficult to apply this configuration to a large-scale electronic circuit portion.

By contrast, by adopting a configuration (a shift register-based type) in which, as shown in FIG. 5B, a plurality of registers are serially connected and a conductor for data saving is led out of the register provided in the final stage, it is necessary simply to provide a conductor between the adjacent registers and a single output port, regardless of the number of registers. As a result, as indicated by character (b) shown in FIG. 6, the number of registers can be increased with little increase in the length of conductor. This makes it easy to apply this configuration to a large-scale electronic circuit portion.

For example, consider a case in which registers are arranged at regular intervals in a logic block that measures 1 mm per side. In this case, while the one-wiring-per-register type requires a conductor length of about 500 mm, the shift register-based type requires only one tenth or less (about 30 mm) of that conductor length.

In particular, since a CPU or the like having a scan path function is provided with a serial output port, the present invention can be applied thereto without affecting its existing logic through the use of that serial output port.

As far as a data transfer rate is concerned, the one-wiring-per-register type is faster than the shift register-based type. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the data transfer rate of a CPU (Z80) operating at 50 MHz is about 400 Mbps for the one-wiring-per-register type and is about 50 Mbps for the shift register-based type.

However, since a data transfer rate of the order of 1 Mbps is sufficient to save all the data of 250 registers used in the CPU (Z80), for example, within the data saving period (several hundreds microseconds (μs)) shown in FIG. 2, there are ample margins even if the shift register-based type is adopted. Accordingly, adopting the shift register-based type causes no problem at all.

On the other hand, it is necessary to use, as the nonvolatile memory 3, a memory having the fastest possible data transfer rate. This makes an EEPROM, for example, having a data transfer rate of the order of 80 Kbps unsuitable for making a large-scale electronic circuit portion nonvolatile. Thus, the data processing device of this embodiment uses, as the nonvolatile memory 3, an FeRAM having a data transfer rate of 16 Mbps. With this configuration, it is possible to save all the register data of the electronic circuit portion within the data saving period described above.

However, even if the FeRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory 3, the data transfer rate thereof is much slower than that of the electronic circuit portion 1. As a result, if data is transferred from the electronic circuit portion 1 to the nonvolatile memory 3 in a serial manner from beginning to end, the capability of saving the register data is determined by the data transfer rate of the nonvolatile memory 3.

To avoid this, the data processing device of this embodiment is provided with the serial/parallel converting portion 24 that performs, at the time of data saving, serial-to-parallel conversion on the register data inputted from the electronic circuit portion 1 in a serial manner and then outputs the data thus converted to the nonvolatile memory 3, and that performs, at the time of data restoration, parallel-to-serial conversion on the register data inputted from the nonvolatile memory 3 in a parallel manner and then outputs the data thus converted to the electronic circuit portion 1.

With this configuration, it is possible to read a plurality of pieces of register data from the electronic circuit portion 1 for each access to the nonvolatile memory 3. This makes it possible to eliminate rate-determining conditions described above.

As described above, the data processing device of this embodiment is so configured as to make the register data of the electronic circuit portion 1 virtually nonvolatile by saving/restoring the register data (for data processing devices using no volatile memory as a storage of data to be processed by the electronic circuit portion 1, all the data needed to restore the state of the electronic circuit portion 1) in an extremely short period (several hundreds microseconds (μs)) immediately after shutdown or power-on.

With this configuration, even if a sudden power shutdown such as a power failure occurs, it is possible to prevent loss of register data without the need for a sub power source or data backup operation during normal operation. This helps eliminate the occurrence of problems such as waste of working time.

For example, by applying the present invention to network servers (network management systems), they are allowed to maintain a processing state even during a power failure and resume processing after power is restored. This makes the network servers unaffected by a sudden power failure.

In the case of data processing devices that need software control, such as personal computers, they are allowed to restore, at power-on, the register data of the electronic circuit portion to the state at shutdown. This helps greatly shorten the start-up time required by the hardware when software is reloaded, for example. This makes it possible to provide an environment in which the user can use the personal computer with ease as if he/she were using a home appliance such as a television set. Furthermore, the data processing device of this embodiment can be turned on/off at very close intervals of the order of a few seconds without placing stress on the user. This makes it possible to reduce power consumption by shutting down the power whenever possible when detecting that the electronic circuit portion has entered a standby state.

For example, by applying the present invention to desktop personal computers or stationary game machines, it is possible to start up or activate them instantaneously. This eliminates the need to save data or wait for activation, making it possible to provide a stress-free IT environment.

Moreover, applying the present invention to notebook-size personal computers or mobile devices eliminates the need for battery backup. This makes it possible to retain data without any problem for several months even if the battery is fully discharged.

The invention may be practiced in any other manner than specifically described above, with any modification or variation made within the spirit of the invention.

For example, the embodiment described above deals with a configuration in which an FeRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this specific configuration. It is also possible to use, as the nonvolatile memory 3, an MRAM (magnetroresistive RAM) that is a nonvolatile memory storing register data by using the magnetroresistive effect of a magnetic substance, or a PRAM (phase change RAM) that is a nonvolatile memory storing register data by using the phase change of an element.

Although the MRAM transfers data at a faster rate (about eight times) than the FeRAM, it requires a larger amount of power than the FeRAM. This results in a faster drop in the source voltage VDD of the MRAM. Consequently, it should be noted that, in a case where the MRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory 3, the amount of time that can be spent on data saving is reduced.

On the other hand, although the data transfer rate of the PRAM is about the same as or slightly slower than that of the FeRAM, the restrictions on the number of times the PRAM can be rewritten are tighter than the restrictions on the number of times the FeRAM can be rewritten. Consequently, it should be noted that, in a case where the PRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory 3, the useful life thereof is decreased.

Next, as an application of the invention described above, with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, a technique for constructing a system that can easily achieve enhancement of the usability of electronic circuits and a reduction in standby power consumption at lower cost, by using, in addition to the existing electronic circuits (such as ICs, LSIs, and IP cores that have already been introduced commercially), a data control circuit having a register data saving/restoration control function will be described in detail.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are each a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a system on which the data control circuit according to the invention is mounted. FIG. 8A shows an example of the SoC (system-on-chip) configuration, and FIG. 8B shows an example of the on-board-system configuration.

In the data processing device having the SoC configuration shown in FIG. 8A, a system LSI (SoC) 100 is composed of an electronic circuit 100 a (such as a CPU core), a data control circuit 100 b, and an embedded memory 100 c, which are integrated into a single chip.

The electronic circuit 100 a corresponds to the electronic circuit portion 1 shown in FIG. 1, and has a register data input port and a register data output port (a debugging port such as a scan path or the like) that are used for making access to the registers provided in the circuit from outside the circuit.

The data control circuit 100 b corresponds to the data saving/restoration control portion 2 shown in FIG. 1, and has a data saving control function of saving the register data of the electronic circuit 100 a outside the circuit via the register data output port of the electronic circuit 100 a. Also, the data control circuit 100 b has a data restoration control function of restoring the register data saved outside the electronic circuit 100 a to the registers provided in the circuit via the register data input port of the electronic circuit 100 a.

The embedded memory 100 c corresponds to the nonvolatile memory 3 shown in FIG. 1, and is a storage circuit to which the register data read from the electronic circuit 100 a is saved.

In FIG. 8A, reference character X1 represents a serial signal (corresponding to the serial signal SI shown in FIG. 1) to be fed to the registers of the electronic circuit 100 a from the data control circuit 100 b via the register data input port. Reference character X2 represents a serial signal (corresponding to the serial signal SO shown in FIG. 1) read from the registers of the electronic circuit 100 a to the data control circuit 100 b via the register data output port. Reference character X₃ represents an input/output path (a debugging line such as a scan path or the like) of the serial signal in the electronic circuit 100 a. The scan path may be formed optionally at the time of integration of circuits of the CMOS core. Reference character X₄ represents a scan path enable signal (corresponding to the scan path enable signal SE shown in FIG. 1). Reference character X₅ represents an internal memory bus for input and output of the register data between the data control circuit 100 b and the embedded memory 100 c. Reference character X6 represents an external bus for input and output of the register data between the data control circuit 100 b and another LSI, an external memory, or the like. Reference character X₇ represents a data control signal (a trigger signal for controlling saving/restoration of the register data) inputted from the power supply control circuit or the like.

On the other hand, in the data processing device having the on-board-system configuration shown in FIG. 8B, an electronic circuit 110 (such as a CPU), a data control circuit 120, and a memory 130 are integrated into different chips, and individually mounted on the mother board.

The electronic circuit 110 corresponds to the electronic circuit portion 1 shown in FIG. 1, and has a register data input port and a register data output port that are used for making access to the registers provided in the circuit from outside the circuit.

The data control circuit 120 corresponds to the data saving/restoration control portion 2 shown in FIG. 1, and has a data saving control function of saving the register data of the electronic circuit 110 outside the circuit via the register data output port of the electronic circuit 110. Also, the data control circuit 120 has a data restoration control function of restoring the register data saved outside the electronic circuit 110 to the registers provided in the circuit via the register data input port of the electronic circuit 110.

The memory 130 corresponds to the nonvolatile memory 3 shown in FIG. 1, and is a storage circuit to which the register data read from the electronic circuit 110 is saved.

In FIG. 8B, reference character Y1 represents a serial signal (corresponding to the serial signal SI shown in FIG. 1) to be fed to the registers of the electronic circuit 110 from the data control circuit 120 via the register data input port. Reference character Y2 represents a serial signal (corresponding to the serial signal SO shown in FIG. 1) read from the registers of the electronic circuit 110 to the data control circuit 120 via the register data output port. Reference character Y₃ represents an input/output path (a debugging line such as a scan path or JTAG) of the serial signal in the electronic circuit 110. Reference character Y₄ represents a scan path enable signal or a JTAG control signal (corresponding to the scan path enable signal SE shown in FIG. 1). Reference character Y₅ represents a memory bus for input and output of the register data between the data control circuit 120 and the memory 130. Reference character Y6 represents a data bus for input and output of the register data between the data control circuit 120 and another LSI or the like. Reference character Y₇ represents a data control signal (a trigger signal for controlling saving/restoration of the register data) inputted from the power supply control circuit or the like.

As described above, by using, in addition to the existing electronic circuits 100 a and 110 (such as ICs, LSIs, and IP cores that have already been introduced commercially), the data control circuits 100 b and 120 having a register data saving/restoration control function, and by making effective use of the design assets of the electronic circuits 100 a and 110 without making major changes therein, it is possible to achieve enhancement of the usability of the electronic circuits 100 a and 110 and a reduction in standby power consumption in a short development period and at lower cost.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, an application to the retention of data at power-on/shutdown will be described in detail.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving the retention of data at power-on/shutdown, and FIG. 10 is a time chart showing an example of data retaining operation.

The data control circuit 120 checks whether power to the electronic circuit 110 is turned on or shut down (in the example shown in FIG. 9, checks a power supply control signal inputted from outside via a power supply control circuit 140). If an instruction is given to turn the power off, the data control circuit 120 saves the register data of the electronic circuit 110; if an instruction is given to turn the power on, the data control circuit 120 restores the saved register data to the registers of the electronic circuit 110, so as to restore the state of the electronic circuit 110 to the original state.

Thus, if an instruction is given to turn the power off during normal operation, the register data of the electronic circuit 110 is saved to the memory 130, and then the power is shut down. After this, if an instruction is given to turn the power on, the register data saved to the memory 130 is restored to the electronic circuit 110, and then the electronic circuit 110 resumes normal operation (see FIG. 10).

With this configuration, it is possible to prevent loss of register data due to a power shutdown. This makes it possible to restore the electronic circuit 110 to the state before power shutdown shortly after the power is turned on again, and shorten the start-up time required by the hardware when software is reloaded, for example. As a result, it is possible to provide an environment in which the user can use the personal computer with ease as if he/she were using a home appliance such as a television set.

Alternatively, as described above, by exploiting the discharging time of the source voltage, the register data of the electronic circuit 110 may be saved to the memory 130 within the period after a fall in the source voltage is detected until the source voltage falls down to the lower limit voltage at which the device is guaranteed to operate. With this configuration, there is no need to use a sub power source (such as a UPS or a battery backup) in performing data saving, making it possible to cope with a sudden power failure. In addition, unlike a configuration in which register data backup operation is performed during normal operation, the processing speed of the electronic circuit 110 is unaffected.

Next, an application to achieving a reduction in power consumption by a power shutdown during standby will be described in detail.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are block diagrams showing an example of the configuration for achieving a reduction in power consumption by a power shutdown during standby. FIG. 11A shows a state in which an LSI is operating, and FIG. 11B shows a state in which the LSI is on standby.

As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the data control circuit 120 of this configuration example includes a power supply control portion 120 a that controls a turn-on/shutdown of power to the electronic circuit 110, and a status monitoring portion 120 b that monitors the operating status of the electronic circuit 110. If the electronic circuit 110 has entered a standby state, the data control circuit 120 saves the register data and shuts down the power to the electronic circuit 110; if the electronic circuit 110 has to be restored from the standby state, the data control circuit 120 turns on the power to the electronic circuit 110 and restores the register data.

With this configuration, it is possible to automatically control a power turn-on/shutdown in accordance with the operating status of the electronic circuit 110 while retaining the register data thereof. This makes it possible to reduce standby leakage power.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for detecting an operating status of the electronic circuit 110 by using the status monitoring portion 120 b. Character (a) shown in FIG. 12 represents a state in which the LSI is operating, and character (b) represents a state in which the LSI is on standby.

As indicated by characters (a) and (b) in FIG. 12, in the data control circuit 120 of this configuration example, the status monitoring portion 120 b monitors an input/output signal exchanged between the electronic circuit 110 and a peripheral circuit 150, and checks the operating status of the electronic circuit 110.

More specifically, in the data control circuit 120 of this configuration example, when a data request signal is sent from the electronic circuit 110 to the peripheral circuit 150, the status monitoring portion 120 b detects that the electronic circuit 110 has entered a standby state (a state in which external information from the peripheral circuit 150 is waited for); when a response signal (a data signal) is sent from the peripheral circuit 150 to the electronic circuit 110, the status monitoring portion 120 b detects that the electronic circuit 110 has to be restored from the standby state.

With this configuration, it is possible to save the register data and shut down the power even during a high-speed data transfer, as long as there is the time when the electronic circuit 110 is in a standby state for as short as a few milliseconds. This makes it possible to reduce power consumption by turning the power on/off as often as possible.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating how effective the present invention is in reducing leakage power. FIG. 13A shows a power consumption behavior of the present invention, and FIG. 13B shows a power consumption behavior of a conventional configuration. In FIGS. 13A and 13B, the vertical axis represents power consumption, and the horizontal axis represents time.

As shown in FIG. 13B, in the conventional configuration, there is some leakage power not only during operation but also during standby (see a hatched portion in the figure). By contrast, as shown in FIG. 13A, since the configuration of the present invention can save the register data and shut down the power during standby, it is possible to reduce power consumption.

In particular, the proportion of leakage power to the total power consumption tends to increase as the technology node (the ground rules of the semiconductor process defined by the ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors)) of the device decreases. Thus, reduction in standby leakage power is undoubtedly very important in achieving the miniaturization of the device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating how effective the present invention is in reducing power consumption of the device as a whole. In this figure, the vertical axis represents power consumption (normalized) of the device, and the horizontal axis represents the availability (%) of the device. It is to be noted that this figure deals with a case in which the proportion of leakage power to the total power consumption is 30%.

As will be understood from a comparison between a solid line L1 (present invention: normally off) and a dashed line L2 (conventional configuration: always on), the lower the availability of the device, the greater the standby leakage power reduction effect. If the availability is 20%, it is possible to reduce the total power consumption by as much as almost 50%.

Next, an application to processing switching by replacement of register data will be described in detail.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving processing switching by replacement of register data.

As shown in this figure, the data control circuit 120 of this configuration example performs replacement of register data depending on processing to be performed by the electronic circuit 110. More specifically, if processing to be executed by the electronic circuit 110 is switched from processing A to processing B, the data control circuit 120 temporarily saves the register data (processing A data) stored in the electronic circuit 110 that is currently performing the processing A to the memory 130 from the electronic circuit 110, and restores the register data (processing B data) that has been saved to the memory 130 at the time of execution of the processing B to the electronic circuit 110. In this way, all the register data of the electronic circuit 110 is replaced with another register data. This helps switch processing to be executed without initializing the electronic circuit 110. Incidentally, processing to be executed by the electronic circuit 110 can be switched from processing B to processing A by doing the above-described procedure the other way around.

With this configuration, even if there is a need to suspend one processing and start another processing from where the one processing was suspended, it is possible to achieve processing switching through the use of the hardware alone. This makes it possible to achieve faster processing switching than when the software is used.

As shown in FIG. 16, the data control circuit 120 of the configuration example described above may perform data saving operation and data restoring operation simultaneously when performing replacement of the register data. More specifically, if processing to be executed by the electronic circuit 110 is switched from processing A to processing B, the data control circuit 120 inputs the register data (processing B data) that has been saved to a first memory 130 a at the time of execution of the processing B to the electronic circuit 110 in a serial manner one bit at a time for restoring it, and saves the register data (processing A data) in the electronic circuit 110, the register data being outputted therefrom one bit at a time as the processing B data is restored, to a second memory 130 b. In this way, all the register data of the electronic circuit 110 is replaced with another register data. In FIG. 16, restored data is represented by gray boxes and arrows with solid line, and saved data is represented by white boxes and arrows with dashed line.

With this configuration, it is possible to quickly complete the replacement of the register data, and hence processing switching.

For the first and second memories 130 a and 130 b described above, they may be provided as separate chips, or provided as first and second memory areas 130 a and 130 b obtained by dividing a storage area of a dual-port memory.

Next, with reference to FIG. 17, a memory in use and the amount of transferred data will be described in detail.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the relationship between a memory in use and the amount of transferred data. In this figure, the vertical axis represents the amount of saved data, and the horizontal axis represents the data transfer rate at the time of data writing.

If a saving time of 10 ms or more can be secured for saving several hundred bits of register data (such as register data of the Z80 system), for example, it is possible to use an EEPROM as a destination memory to which data is saved. However, if there is a need to save a few Kbits of register data (register data of the ARM₇ system) in a shorter time period (of the order of 1 ms), it is necessary to use a storage circuit (such as a flash memory or an FeRAM) that is faster than the EEPROM.

That is, in the data processing device of the present invention, with consideration given to the relationship between the amount of saved data and saving time, a storage circuit (an SRAM, a DRAM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, an FeRAM, an MRAM, a PRAM, an RRAM, an NVSRAM, a BBSRAM, and a memory of a similar kind, or a latch, a register, and a storage element of a similar kind) having a data transfer rate at which all the register data can be saved from the electronic circuit may be used, as appropriate, as a destination to which the register data is saved.

Next, with reference to FIG. 18, an application to achieving, through the use of the hardware, saving/restoration of not only register data of an electronic circuit but also data of a volatile memory that stores data to be processed by the electronic circuit will be described in detail.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving, through the use of the hardware, saving/restoration of data of a volatile memory that stores data to be processed by the electronic circuit. In this figure, arrows with solid line represent the data saving/restoring paths, and arrows with dashed line represent the control signal transmission paths.

As shown in FIG. 18, a data processing device of this configuration example includes an electronic circuit 210 such as a large-scale CPU, a data control circuit 220, and a nonvolatile memory 230. The above-described electronic circuit 210, data control circuit 220, and nonvolatile memory 230 are each connected to a data bus 240.

The electronic circuit 210 corresponds to the electronic circuit 110 shown in FIG. 8B (or the electronic circuit 100 shown in FIG. 8A except for the data control circuit 100 b), and includes, in addition to a CPU core 210 a, an embedded memory 210 b, a cache memory 210 c, a debugging line control circuit 210 d, and a DMA (direct memory access) controller 210 e.

The CPU core 210 a, the embedded memory 210 b, and the cache memory 210 c each have a data input port and a data output port (a debugging port such as a scan path or JTAG) that are used for making access to the storage elements provided in the electronic circuit from outside the circuit. Such a debugging port may be formed optionally at the time of circuit integration.

The embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c are volatile memories storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit 210. The example shown in FIG. 18 deals with a case in which the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c are incorporated in the electronic circuit 210. This, however, is not meant to limit the configuration of the invention in any way. For example, the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210C may be added externally.

In addition to controlling saving/restoration of data between the CPU core 210 a, the embedded memory 210 b, and the cache memory 210 c, and the data control circuit 220 via the debugging port, and controlling saving/restoration of data therebetween via the data bus 240, the debugging line control circuit 210 d serves as an input/output path through which the saved/restored data is inputted/outputted via the debugging port.

Based on the instruction from the data control circuit 220, the DMA controller 210 e controls DMA transfer of the embedded memory 210 b. The DMA controller 210 e may be incorporated in the data control circuit 220.

The data control circuit 220 corresponds to the data control circuit 120 shown in FIG. 8B, and has a function of achieving, through the use of the hardware, saving/restoration of not only register data of the CPU core 210 a forming the electronic circuit 210 but also data of a volatile memory (in FIG. 18, the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c) storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit 210 (in FIG. 18, a function of making access to the CPU core 210 a, to the embedded memory 210 b, and to the cache memory 210C via the debugging port, and a function of giving an instruction to the DMA controller 210 e to make the embedded memory 210 b perform DMA transfer). As is the case with FIG. 8A, the data control circuit 220 can be incorporated in the electronic circuit 210.

The nonvolatile memory 230 corresponds to the memory 130 shown in FIG. 8B, and is a storage circuit to which various data (register data, memory data, and cache data) read from the electronic circuit 210 is saved. As is the case with FIG. 8A, the nonvolatile memory 230 can be incorporated in the electronic circuit 210.

As described above, as the nonvolatile memory 230, an SRAM, a DRAM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, an FeRAM, an MRAM, a PRAM, an RRAM, an NVSRAM, a BBSRAM, and a memory of a similar kind, or a latch, a register, and a storage element of a similar kind may be used.

Alternatively, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which a nonvolatile memory to which data is saved via the debugging line and a nonvolatile memory to which data is saved via the data bus 240 are provided separately.

With reference to FIG. 19 and also to FIG. 18 described above, data saving processing performed by the data processing device configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing an example of data saving processing. FIG. 19 describes a case in which data saving processing is performed on the electronic circuit 210 by using as a trigger the issuance of a power-off instruction. This, however, is not meant to limit the application of the invention in any way. It is needless to say that, as described above, data saving processing can be performed on the electronic circuit 210 by using as a trigger the detection of a standby state of the electronic circuit 210 or the detection of processing switching.

First, if a signal indicating a power-off is detected in step S10, an interrupt is sent to the electronic circuit 210 from the data control circuit 220 in step S11, whereby processing being executed by the electronic circuit 210 is suspended. Then, in steps S12 and S13, saving of data of the cache memory 210 c and saving of data of the embedded memory 210 b are performed by the data control circuit 220 via the debugging line or the data bus 240. In step S14, the data control circuit 220 stops a drive clock fed to the electronic circuit 210. After the operation of the CPU core 210 a is stopped, in step S15, saving of the register data is performed via the debugging line. After saving of all the data is completed, in step S16, the power to the electronic circuit 210 is turned off.

As is the case with saving of the register data of the CPU core 210 a, for saving of data of the cache memory 210C performed in step S12 and saving of data of the embedded memory 210 b performed in step S13, data may be saved via the debugging line or the data bus 240 by controlling the cache memory 210 c and the embedded memory 210 b via the debugging line. For data saving via the debugging line, data may be saved from the data control circuit 220 to the nonvolatile memory 230 by using the data bus 240 or a path through which the saved data is directly written to the nonvolatile memory 230.

For saving of data of the embedded memory 210 b performed in step S13, data can be saved by another method, other than the method described above, in which the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b is DMA transferred to the nonvolatile memory 230 via the data bus 240 by making the data control circuit 220 control the DMA controller 210 e installed in the electronic circuit 210.

If there is another controller (for example, a memory controller) of the embedded memory 210 b, other than the CPU core 210 a and the DMA controller 210 e, the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b can be transferred to the nonvolatile memory 230 via the data bus 240 by controlling that controller.

As described above, with the configuration shown in FIG. 18, it is possible to achieve, through the use of the hardware, saving/restoration of not only register data of the CPU core 210 a forming the electronic circuit 210 but also data of a volatile memory (in FIG. 18, the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c) storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit 210. Thus, as compared with the configuration in which a data saving program is executed by the CPU core 210 a so that data saving control is performed by software, this configuration can perform saving/restoration of data (and hence power-on/off) at higher speed.

When above-described data saving control is performed, the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b cannot be abandoned without saving it because it is essential for restoring the state of the electronic circuit 210. On the other hand, since the data stored in the cache memory 210 c is a duplicate of the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b, even if no cache data exists after restoration of the state of the electronic circuit 210, it is only necessary to read the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b again. Therefore, the data stored in the cache memory 210C may be abandoned without saving it.

However, if data saving of the electronic circuit 210 is performed when the CPU core 210 a is using the cache data, the following problem arises. If the cache data is abandoned at the time of restoration of the electronic circuit 210, it appears to the CPU core 210 a as if the cache data being used suddenly disappears. This may cause the CPU core 210 a to malfunction. Thus, in a case where the configuration in which cache data is abandoned is adopted, it is desirable that the machine cycle of the electronic circuit 210 be monitored, such that data saving of the electronic circuit 210 is performed only when the cache data is not used by the CPU core 210 a.

FIG. 19 deals with a case in which saving of the register data of the CPU core 210 a, saving of data of the embedded memory 210 b, and saving of data of the cache memory 210C are processed in a serial manner. However, the present invention is not limited to this specific configuration. For example, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which these processing are performed in a parallel manner, such that the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b is saved by a DMA transfer via the data bus 240, the register data of the CPU core 210 a is saved via the debugging line, and the data stored in the cache memory 210C is abandoned. With this configuration, it is possible to perform saving/restoration of data (and hence power-on/off) at higher speed.

In a case where data saving control has to be performed by software by using the CPU core 210 a due to the absence of the debugging line control circuit 210 d and the DMA controller 210 e, it is necessary simply to save the data stored in the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c to the nonvolatile memory 230 via the data bus 240 by making a quick transition to a data saving program by the replacement of the register data, which has been described in FIG. 15.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 20A and 20B and also to FIG. 18 described above, data restoring processing of the data processing device configured as described above will be described.

FIGS. 20A and 20B are flow charts each showing an example of data restoring processing. The flow charts shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B include a step of making the electronic circuit 210 perform particular processing (such as waiting, providing the user with notification, or the like) at the time of data restoration of the electronic circuit 210.

First, a flow chart of FIG. 20A (a method of achieving the above-described particular processing by interrupt control performed by the data control circuit 220) will be described.

In step S20, power is turned on. In the following step S21, the data saved to the nonvolatile memory 230 is restored to the electronic circuit 210. Of data restoration performed in step S21, restoration of data of the embedded memory 210 b and the cache memory 210 c is simply performed via the debugging line or the data bus 240 by controlling the embedded memory 210 b or the cache memory 210 c via the debugging line just as the register data of the CPU core 210 a is restored. For data restoration via the debugging line, data may be restored from the nonvolatile memory 230 to the data control circuit 220 by using the data bus 240 or a path through which the restored data is directly read from the nonvolatile memory 230.

For restoration of data of the embedded memory 210 b performed in step S21, data can be restored by another method, other than the method described above, in which the saved data of the nonvolatile memory 230 is DMA transferred to the embedded memory 210 b via the data bus 240 by making the data control circuit 220 control the DMA controller 210 e installed in the electronic circuit 210.

If there is another controller (for example, a memory controller) of the embedded memory 210 b, other than the CPU core 210 a and the DMA controller 210 e, the saved data of the nonvolatile memory 230 can be transferred to the embedded memory 210 b via the data bus 240 by controlling that controller.

After data restoration in step S21 is completed, in step S22, a drive clock is fed to the electronic circuit 210 by the data control circuit 220, whereby the CPU core 210 a is activated.

In step S23, a predetermined interrupt is sent from the data control circuit 220 to notify the electronic circuit 210 that the data has been saved/restored. In the following step S24, a program (hereinafter a “specific program”) prepared for achieving the above-described particular processing is executed.

After the completion of the particular processing in step S24, normal operation (the operation that had been performed before the data was saved) of the electronic circuit 210 is resumed in step S25.

Next, a flow chart of FIG. 20B (a method of achieving the above-described particular processing by data replacement performed by the data control circuit 220) will be described.

In step S30, power is turned on. In the following step S31, the aforementioned specific program, not the saved data of the nonvolatile memory 230, is inputted to the electronic circuit 210.

After the completion of an input of the specific program in step S31, in step S32, a drive clock is fed to the electronic circuit 210 by the data control circuit 220, whereby the CPU core 210 a is activated. In step S33, the specific program is executed.

Then, after the completion of the particular processing in step S33, in step S34, the saved data of the nonvolatile memory 230 is restored to the electronic circuit 210 by employing the replacement of register data, which has been described in FIG. 15.

In step S35, normal operation (the operation that had been performed before the data was saved) of the electronic circuit 210 is resumed.

As described above, when the data that has been saved to the nonvolatile memory 230 is restored, before resuming the processing that the electronic circuit 210 had been performing before the data was saved, particular processing different from that processing is performed. With this configuration, before resuming normal operation of the electronic circuit 210, it is possible to display a message notifying the user of the completion of saving/restoration of data, and urging him/her to get ready to resume normal operation or allowing him/her to make a decision either to maintain or abandon the contents of the processing performed before the data was saved. This helps enhance the usability.

That is, since a drive clock fed to the electronic circuit 210 is stopped while the data thereof is being saved/restored, the electronic circuit 210 cannot decide by itself as to whether saving/restoration of data has been performed, and therefore tries to resume, after the completion of data restoration, the operation it has been performing before the data was saved as if nothing had happened. However, by performing the particular processing described above before resuming that operation, even if data is saved during a power failure of, for example, an application (e.g. a game machine) that requires constant user operation, it is possible to send a message urging the user to get ready to the resumption of normal operation after restoration of data. This helps prevent the user from failing to cope with the situation due to a sudden resumption of the operation that had been performed before the data was saved.

Although FIGS. 20A and 20B deal with a flow of performing interrupt control and a flow of performing data replacement, respectively, as a method of achieving the above-described particular processing, these flows may be performed singly or in combination.

For example, a flow of performing interrupt control shown in FIG. 20A has the advantage of making it easy to deal with a large program, but has a disadvantage in terms of a processing speed because it requires software processing using the CPU core 210 a. On the other hand, a flow of performing data replacement shown in FIG. 20B has the advantage of making it possible to quickly execute a specific program by hardware processing, but has the disadvantage of difficulty in dealing with a large program. Thus, in a case where these flows are performed in combination, it is necessary simply to use either flow selectively depending on the contents of the specific program (the degree of complexity of processing).

Other than the interrupt control described above, examples as a means of notifying the electronic circuit 210 of saving/restoration of data include a configuration in which predetermined notification data that notifies of saving/restoration of data is transmitted via the data bus 240, and, when this notification data is detected by the electronic circuit 210, the aforementioned specific program is executed. However, adopting this configuration necessitates a program that makes the CPU core 210 a continuously monitor the data bus 240.

The configuration descried above deals with a case in which restoration of data is performed after a relatively prolonged period of power shut down, such as a sudden power failure. In a case where saving/restoration of data is performed at high frequency in a short period of time, for example, when power is shut down while the electronic circuit 210 is in a standby state, normal operation may be resumed immediately without executing the aforementioned specific program.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22, an application to the concurrent restoration of a plurality of data processing devices will be described in detail.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration for achieving the concurrent restoration of a plurality of data processing devices. Although FIG. 21 deals with a system provided with three data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C, the number of data processing devices is not limited to three.

As shown in FIG. 21, the data processing device 200A includes an electronic circuit 210A, a data control circuit 220A, and a nonvolatile memory 230A. The data processing device 200B includes an electronic circuit 210B, a data control circuit 220B, and a nonvolatile memory 230B. The data processing device 200C includes an electronic circuit 210C, a data control circuit 220C, and a nonvolatile memory 230C.

The electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C each correspond to the electronic circuit 210 shown in FIG. 18. The data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C each correspond to the data control circuit 220 shown in FIG. 18. The nonvolatile memories 230A, 230B, and 230C each correspond to the nonvolatile memory 230 shown in FIG. 18.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the data control circuit 220A. It is to be noted that the data control circuits 220B and 220C have the same configuration as the data control circuit 220A.

As shown in FIG. 22, the data control circuit 220A includes a data saving control portion A1 that saves data of the electronic circuit 210A to the nonvolatile memory 230A, a data restoration control portion A2 that restores the data saved to the nonvolatile memory 230A to the electronic circuit 210A, and sends, at the completion of data restoration, a data restoration notification signal SA indicating that restoration of data of the electronic circuit 210A is completed, a restoration monitoring control portion A₃ that monitors the data restoration state of the data processing devices 200B and 200C (in the configuration example shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the data restoration completion detection signal SD), and an operation resumption control portion A₄ that stops the operation of the electronic circuit 210A until data restoration of the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C is completed. The data control circuits 220B and 220C have the same configuration as the data control circuit 220A.

That is, the data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C have, in addition to the data saving/restoring function described above, a function of sending the data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC, respectively, and a concurrent restoration function according to the data restoration completion detection signal SD.

The above-described data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC are each a binary logic signal that takes a low level while data restoration is being performed and takes a high level after data restoration is completed, for example. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 21, they are inputted to an AND logic unit 250.

The data restoration completion detection signal SD is an output signal of the AND logic unit 250 (an AND logic signal of the data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC). The data restoration completion detection signal SD takes a high level only when all of the data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC take a high level (only when data restoration of all the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C is completed); otherwise, it takes a low level.

As described above, with the configuration in which, as a means of generating the data restoration completion detection signal SD based on the data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC, the AND logic unit 250 is provided separately from the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C, it is possible to easily deal with the installation of an additional data processing device. This, however, is not meant to limit the configuration of the invention in any way. For example, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C are made to directly monitor each other's data restoration notification signals SA, SB, and SC. Alternatively, it is also possible to use, instead of the AND logic unit 250, any other logic operation circuit (such as a majority logic unit) as long as it does not interfere with the resumption of the operation of the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C.

As described above, since the data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C include the restoration monitoring control portion A₃ and the operation resumption control portion A₄, they stop feeding, even after data restoration thereof is completed, drive clocks to the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C until the data restoration completion detection signal SD takes a high level, and resume the feeding of drive clocks when the data restoration completion detection signal SD takes a high level.

As described above, by adopting the configuration in which a function of making the data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C monitor each other's data restoration status is provided so that the operations of all the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C are resumed when data restoration thereof is completed, it is possible to resume the operations of the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C with the same timing, even if the data processing devices 200A, 200B, and 200C complete data restoration with different timing.

That is, this configuration prevents the data processing device that has completed data restoration first from resuming operating while the other data processing devices are still performing data restoration (while they stop processing). This makes it possible to prevent a malfunction.

In a case where a reduction in power consumption is achieved by shutting down the power to the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C while they are in a standby state, the data control circuits 220A, 220B, and 220C have to detect the operating status of the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C (whether they are in a standby state or not). As a means of detecting it, it is necessary simply to provide a status monitoring portion having the configuration similar to that shown in FIG. 12, the status monitoring portion detecting that the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C have entered a standby state when a data request signal is sent from the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C to a peripheral circuit (not shown in FIG. 21), and detecting that the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C have to be restored from the standby state when a response signal is sent from the peripheral circuit.

As described above, with the configuration in which the standby states of the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C are detected individually by monitoring the existing signal terminals thereof, it is possible to make effective use of the design assets of the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C without making any change therein. This makes it possible to achieve enhancement of the usability of the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C and a reduction in standby power consumption in a short development period and at lower cost.

However, the means of detecting the operating status of the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C (whether they are in a standby state or not) is not limited to this specific configuration, but may be configured in any other way than is specifically described above.

For example, in a case where the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C each have an output terminal for outputting a processing stop signal (for example, a HALT signal for setting a flag if processing is forcefully stopped due to some sort of trouble, such as a hang-up of the CPU), it is also possible to monitor that output terminal.

In a case where the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C each have a dedicated signal terminal for an indication of the standby state thereof, it is also possible to monitor that signal terminal.

Alternatively, in a case where the electronic circuits 210A, 210B, and 210C each have a function of sending data indicating that it is in a standby state via a general-purpose data input/output port (in FIG. 21, the data bus 240), it is also possible to monitor that data.

In terms of industrial applicability, the invention is useful in achieving enhancement of the usability (protecting data when the battery starts to run out, or enhancing the speed of processing switching) of microprocessors, image processors, multimedia processors, IP cores, personal computers, network servers, mobile devices, game machines, PDAs and the like, and achieving a reduction in standby power consumption thereof (an extension of the operable time of a battery-operated device, or an extension of battery life).

While the present invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed invention may be modified in numerous ways and may assume many embodiments other than those specifically set out and described above. Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all modifications of the present invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A data processing device comprising: an electronic circuit; a volatile memory storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit; a data control circuit energized by a source voltage; and a storage circuit to which the data is saved, wherein the data control circuit comprises: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown; a data saving control function portion saving the data of the volatile memory to the storage circuit via a debugging port of the volatile memory in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the volatile memory is saved.
 2. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the data processing device comprises: as the volatile memory, a plurality of volatile memories including a cache memory, wherein the data control circuit saves data of other than the cache memory.
 3. The data processing device of claim 2, wherein the data control circuit monitors a machine cycle of the electronic circuit, and saves data of the volatile memory when data of the cache memory is not used.
 4. A data processing device comprising: an electronic circuit; a volatile memory storing data to be processed by the electronic circuit; a data control circuit energized by a source voltage; and a storage circuit to which the data is saved, wherein the data control circuit comprises: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown; a data saving control function portion giving an instruction to the volatile memory or a control circuit thereof to save the data of the volatile memory to the storage circuit via a general-purpose data input/output port of the volatile memory in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the volatile memory is saved.
 5. The data processing device of claim 4, wherein the data processing device comprises: as the volatile memory, a plurality of volatile memories including a cache memory, wherein the data control circuit saves data of other than the cache memory.
 6. The data processing device of claim 5, wherein the data control circuit monitors a machine cycle of the electronic circuit, and saves data of the volatile memory when data of the cache memory is not used.
 7. A data processing device comprising: an electronic circuit; a data control circuit energized by a source voltage; and a storage circuit to which data is saved, wherein the data control circuit comprises: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown, and also arranged to receive the signal generated upon detection of a predetermined value to which the source voltage reaches at power-on; a data saving control function portion connected to the electronic circuit, the data saving control function portion saving data of the electronic circuit to the storage circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at shutdown; and a data restoration control function portion restoring the data saved to the storage circuit to the electronic circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at power-on; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the electronic circuit is saved, and performing parallel-to-serial conversion on the data when the data of the electronic circuit is restored. wherein, when the data saved to the storage circuit is restored, the data control circuit, before resuming processing that the electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, makes the electronic circuit perform particular processing different from that processing.
 8. A data control circuit energized by a source voltage, the data control circuit comprising: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal to be generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown; a data saving control function portion saving data of a volatile memory, in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal, via a debugging port of the volatile memory storing data to be processed by an electronic circuit; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the volatile memory is saved.
 9. The data control circuit of claim 8, further comprising: a data restoration control function portion restoring the saved data to the volatile memory via the debugging port of the volatile memory.
 10. The data control circuit of claim 8, further comprising: a data restoration control function portion giving an instruction to the volatile memory or a control circuit thereof to restore the saved data to the volatile memory via a general-purpose data input/output port of the volatile memory.
 11. The data control circuit of claim 10, wherein the data control circuit restores data of the volatile memory by a DMA transfer.
 12. A data control circuit energized by a source voltage, the data control circuit comprising: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown; a data saving control function portion giving an instruction to a volatile memory or a control circuit thereof, via a general-purpose data input/output port of the volatile memory storing data to be processed by an electronic circuit, to save the data of the volatile memory in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the volatile memory is saved.
 13. The data control circuit of claim 12, further comprising: a data restoration control function portion giving an instruction to the volatile memory or the control circuit thereof to restore the saved data to the volatile memory via the general-purpose data input/output port of the volatile memory.
 14. The data control circuit of claim 13, wherein the data control circuit saves and restores the data of the volatile memory by a DMA transfer.
 15. A data control circuit energized by a source voltage, the data control circuit comprising: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown, and also arranged to receive the signal generated upon detection of a predetermined value to which the source voltage reaches at power-on; a data saving control function portion connected to an electronic circuit, the data saving control function portion saving data of the electronic circuit outside the circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at shutdown; a data restoration control function portion restoring the data saved outside the circuit to the electronic circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at power-on; and a serial/parallel converting portion performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the data when the data of the electronic circuit is saved, and performing parallel-to-serial conversion on the data when the data of the electronic circuit is restored, wherein, when the data saved outside the circuit is restored, the data control circuit, before resuming processing that the electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, makes the electronic circuit perform particular processing different from that processing.
 16. The data control circuit of claim 15, wherein what is performed as the particular processing is to provide a user with notification that the data has been saved/restored.
 17. The data control circuit of claim 15, wherein, after the data saved outside the circuit is restored to the electronic circuit, the data control circuit makes the electronic circuit perform the particular processing by performing predetermined interrupt processing to notify the electronic circuit that the data has been saved/restored.
 18. The data control circuit of claim 15, wherein the data control circuit makes the electronic circuit perform the particular processing by inputting a predetermined program to the electronic circuit instead of the data saved outside the circuit, and, after the particular processing is completed, replaces the predetermined program with the saved data.
 19. A data control circuit energized by a source voltage, the data control circuit comprising: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown, and also arranged to receive the signal generated upon detection of a predetermined value to which the source voltage reaches at power-on; a data saving control function portion connected to an electronic circuit, the data saving control function portion saving data of the electronic circuit outside the circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at shutdown; and a data restoration control function portion restoring the data saved outside the circuit to the electronic circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at power-on, wherein, when the data saved outside the circuit is restored, the data control circuit, before resuming processing that the electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, makes the electronic circuit perform particular processing different from that processing, and wherein the data control circuit stops a drive clock fed to the electronic circuit while the data of the electronic circuit is being saved/restored.
 20. A data control circuit energized by a source voltage, the data control circuit comprising: a signal receiving portion arranged to receive a signal generated upon detection of a fall in the source voltage at shutdown, and also arranged to receive the signal generated upon detection of a predetermined value to which the source voltage reaches at power-on; a data saving control function portion connected to an electronic circuit, the data saving control function portion saving data of the electronic circuit outside the circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at shutdown; and a data restoration control function portion restoring the data saved outside the circuit to the electronic circuit in response to the signal receiving portion receiving the signal at power-on, wherein, when the data saved outside the circuit is restored, the data control circuit, before resuming processing that the electronic circuit had been performing before the data was saved, makes the electronic circuit perform particular processing different from that processing, and wherein the data control circuit decides whether to perform the particular processing or not depending on a length of time from saving of data of the electronic circuit to restoration thereof. 